Wolves and Sheep
by INMH
Summary: Mikael has an encounter with someone he's never met, but hates regardless.


Wolves and Sheep

Rating: PG-13/T

Genre: Drama/Angst

Summary: Mikael has an encounter with someone he's never met, but hates regardless.

Author's Note: Not a fill for tvd_hiatus, but a plot bunny that bit me. :3

Disclaimer: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, it belongs to L.J. Smith/The CW.

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"Even a sheep with the skin of a tiger is afraid of the wolf."

-Chinese Proverb

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Mikael knew it was him because of the way Esther froze mid-step and stared.

They hadn't discussed It since Esther came to him crying almost three years ago and admitted her sin. Even when they found out that she was pregnant and the odds of Mikael being the father were slim, even when Niklaus was born they did not talk about It. No mention whatsoever. They both knew. It didn't need to be reiterated.

Mikael was weak for his wife. Where some men might kill an unfaithful wife or throw her out on the street, Mikael could never even start to contemplate doing such a thing to Esther. He loves her too much. Did the betrayal hurt? Of course it did. Did he ever get an adequate explanation as to why exactly she'd done it? No. Esther didn't know and presumably continues to not know why she did It. Mikael knew that she loved and loves him.

Neither of them understood.

And since they don't talk about It, they might never.

Their wolfish neighbors do business with them, but whenever they enter the village people go inside or look away or make busy with one activity or another. They were at peace with the wolves, but that didn't necessarily mean that they were friendly. Some of them were more peaceful, friendly than others. Some of them were downright bastards, and weren't afraid of intimidating anyone that they felt like bothering.

Mikael hated them.

And in particular this one.

Esther had concealed his name probably more for Mikael and the village's sake than for the wolf's: Mikael had been livid when she had told him about It, and if she had been so careless at to reveal the man's name there was a high likelihood that Mikael would have killed him, shattering the peace they'd maintained for the past few years. And since they didn't talk about It, Mikael eventually came to assume that he would never know the dog's name.

"Good morning." He said it more to Esther than Mikael. Mikael was facing the wolf, had approached him when he saw him heading for Esther and the boys. He couldn't see Esther's face now, but she made no sound whatsoever.

"Good morning." Mikael returned levelly. "Can I help you?" _Off a cliff?_ The wolf seemed to sense the unspoken and (at least, Mikael thought) well-hidden hostility in his voice.

"Just trying to be friendly." He had the audacity to _smile_ at Esther. "I've met your wife before."

Mikael was never famed for his patience or a slow temper, and the remark made his hand twitch convulsively in the direction of his sword. Esther might have choked behind him. If the wolf noticed, he gave no indication. He was too fast and strong, and probably expecting retaliation- Mikael would be dead before he could strike.

Mikael was acutely aware of Niklaus's childish babbling and Elijah's watchful eyes and Esther's silent terror. All he did was lower his voice.

"I'm aware of that."

The next remark the wolf made almost ended in death- Be it his or Mikael's.

Mikael was struggling to accept Niklaus. Esther didn't neglect Niklaus, but she lacked the same enthusiasm with him that she'd had with Elijah and their first child. Niklaus was a symbol of It, a constant, painful reminder of her great mistake (They don't know, can't know for certain, but they…Know). She loved the boy; he knew that. She did not make it clear that she wanted Mikael to love Niklaus, but he assumed that that was what she wanted.

Ayanna had been more direct.

"You are his father." She said lowly, decisively when Esther was asleep, a new Niklaus was in his cradle and Mikael was awake pacing. "You will raise him. He will only know _you_. What does it matter where half of him came from? What matters is what he learns, and he will learn from you. You will shape him. You will be all he knows, and he will love you." With a cautious glance towards the bedroom, Ayanna had dropped her voice to a whisper.

"My friend will not speak for herself, so I must do it for her. The sin is Esther's, Mikael, and hers alone. Niklaus did not choose to be born. He did not have the luxury of choosing who his parents would be. None of us do. No fault lies with him. Have the mercy not to condemn him for something he could not help."

Mikael tried to heed that. He wasn't cruel, didn't want to be, wanted to be logical- But It had _hurt_, and Mikael did not deal with _hurt_ well. Anger, happiness, sadness, that was relatively easy- But hurt meant sadness, anger and _betrayal_ all in one, and it was overwhelming at just the wrong moments.

Like this one.

The wolf leaned forward, he smiled a nasty, cruel smile, and he said very softly:

"That boy looks familiar." He nodded to Niklaus, so small and for now completely oblivious to the drama unfolding.

"Does he, now?" Mikael's voice came out as a growl.

The wolf grinned.

"Indeed: I see him in the creek every morning when I go to wash my face."

Mikael's temper _flared_.

The wolf had just pressed the rawest and most painful nerve in his body.

Mikael's sword was out in half a second, and he heard Elijah's shocked gasp behind him and Esther's choked cry.

"Go on," The wolf baited him, standing perfectly still. "Do it." His eyes flickered to the left and then to the right, where Mikael saw two other men he recognized as wolves watching from a distance, their brows furrowed as they saw the open act of aggression towards their fellow. "I can kill you so easily, even in my human form. I'd take delight in your family and friends watching you fall."

Mikael wanted to. He wanted so badly to slash this arrogant bastard's throat and let it bleed into the dust, wanted to tear him limb from limb and make it very clear that if anyone else ever tried to put their hands on his wife they would pay most dearly.

But Mikael was proud, not stupid.

The wolf's threat was valid. If he didn't cut Mikael down, the other werewolves would. A direct attack might lead to Esther and the boys being killed, or the peace between the villagers and the wolves being decimated. Attacking would be so, so satisfactory to his own ego, but it would be selfish. The consequences would be too great.

For all of Mikael's strength and valor, deep inside he held a degree of fear for the wolves. Anyone in their right mind, with a modicum of intelligence would. The wolves were fierce, vicious creatures; Mikael had had the misfortune of watching them rip others limb from limb, back in the days when they were still officially enemies. Their howls made him go cold inside and his skin crawl, even if that deep-rooted fear never quite made its way into his expression or words.

But he did fear them, for what they could do to not so much to him, but to his family if they so desired.

Mikael grit his teeth, clenched the hilt of his sword, which in turn began to shake as his hand did.

"Mikael," Esther croaked breathlessly.

Little Niklaus must have sensed his mother's intense distress, because he started to cry, clinging and pulling at Esther's dress and hair. Elijah was old enough to know when something bad was happening and had buried his face in her skirt. But Esther was too shaken to really notice her children; her right arm was wrapped tightly around Elijah's shoulders while the left held Niklaus, and her face was pressed into his hair.

Her eyes were watery.

On a good day, making Esther cry was a crime worthy of death on its own. Mikael had seen her cry twice before: The first when their first child had died, the second the night that It had happened. She did not easily cry, and so anyone who provoked her to that level of sadness would deserve all sorts of torment and death in the absolute worst kind of way.

Mikael forced himself down, forced his sword back into its sheath.

He didn't say a word; just turned around and went back to his family.

Esther was quaking, and that was probably the only factor that stopped him from walking into the woods and hacking away at the first tree he could. She was also alarmingly pale, and the last time Mikael had seen her in such a state had been when she'd overexerted herself on a spell and had passed out.

He took a deep, deep breath.

"Esther," He put an arm around her, tried to force the tension from his limbs and kissed her on the forehead. "Here. Let me take him." Mikael took still wailing Niklaus from his wife. "Elijah, help your mother inside. Go on." Still deeply alarmed at the situation he probably didn't quite understand, Elijah nodded slowly, fearfully, and obeyed his father's order.

"Papa," Niklaus snuffled and cried. "Papa!" He pulled at the sleeves of Mikael's tunic, trying to provoke his father into comforting him. Mikael did so somewhat awkwardly- Esther was usually the one who coddled the boys when they needed to be coddled. He was the one that made them tough.

It was only after a moment of gently patting Niklaus's back and trying to wipe some of the tears from his face that Mikael realized that the wolf was still there, watching. When he looked, he saw that the man's eyes were fixated on Niklaus rather intensely, studying him and contemplating him like he was…

Longing.

Mikael was not cruel, and didn't want to be. But that didn't mean that he wasn't capable of doing some rather cruel things when pushed to a certain state of mind.

He locked eyes with the wolf, didn't quite smile (but close), and then kissed the top of Niklaus' head. "I love you, Niklaus." The child sniffled a bit, but was a bit brighter now.

"Love you, papa." He said it significantly louder than Mikael had, and the wolf couldn't _not_ have heard it, not with those heightened senses.

He looked angry, cold, and most of all _hurt_.

And as awful as it was, that satisfied Mikael in ways he didn't think were possible.

-End


End file.
